Here’s The Scoop … The Last Gasp …Election 2010 …

RIP…

Dear Readers … unless they move it after this is is posted …out in front of this year’s 3 week , $4000 Halloween production at Jarvis Hall is a headstone that says “RIP Marc & Cristie”…. A few readers have made mention of it already wondering if it was a prank by the Mc-Furth opponents or if it means something else?… First of all it’s not new..it’s been on display in the back room among others with local names on them as well….found after going through the haunted hallway to where the coffin is… The placement this year, as of right now at least to this writer…may be another “sign”…pun intended …. of the “Last Gasp” to retain the past they want at all costs….while knowing the tide is turning…

The Furths may be successful in their “Last Gasp” campaign which is how I will refer to the March 2010 election in LBTS…( the term is thanks to an observant pal, intuitive observation)…by getting the height referendum back on the ballot…That would be a shame…under the “guise” of “clarification” ..You heard that word come from the Furth commission “devotees” on the dais less than 24 hours after the Oct. 26th Referendum Workshop when it seemed the 3 (McIntee, Silverstone and Marc Furth besotted Clottey) were faltering from the 33 feet issue that THE FURTHS NEED IN THIS ELECTION… If they can’t get it…they do not have an issue to run on, at least a tried and true Furth issue….. So in what appears again to be totally a disregard of Sunshine all 3 came to the dais on the 27th to say “clarify” the 33′ height limit in town…WOW!…

Ms. Furth spoke of working with “co-sponsor” Oliver Parker…and all 3 commissioners were involved in the one or more past renditions of the same issue…and now they need it again?…Why?…..The Furth’s want it ..Cristie wants it…so is she wants it…Marc wants it and to keep Cristie happy…..Marc will besot Clottey and pal around with Jerry and Jimmy…same as in the past….that’s why!…

This writer, as readers know was a part of the last 2006 height campaign… and was caught up in delivering with fervor erroneous information “buried deep within” the backup of those 75 words on the ballot…We were told by certain CIC tin charge to tell those in the south who really did not care about the north end’s 15 story height that if the south let it get passed then the commission would have a right with their majority vote to raise the heights in our end of town..Eeeeks…. It was scary stuff….BUT…it was not true!… What will the CIC-Mc-Furths come up with this time?…And do they have anybody left to carry out erroneous information?….The numbers for their organization clearly show the CIC has indeed dwindled down to a membership of new members in January 2009 coming from a new members apartment building in the south and the VFD…along with a smattering of old timers …..very telling of the downfall from out in front watchdog group to cheerleading for Jerry’s tired tales …

There are some things that matter more than 33′ in this town…and that is the change in our demographics and what Paul Novak President of the Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the Master Plan Steering Committee, and longtime hotelier in town brought out at the end of the Oct. 26th Referendum Workshop…with the 33′ feet we will have no more hotels…we will become a residential community …..

I moved to this town 10 years ago…We bought a 3 bedroom condo in Sea Ranch Club after living for 6 years in Pompano Beach on the Intercoastal …We had originally moved here from the North Shore of Chicago and missed terribly the ability to walk around …into town..to the store etc…to eat and to be entertained…something we could never do in Pompano… Lauderdale By The Sea in 1999 as a new resident was a wonder to behold ..It was vital…It was busy…It was beautiful…It was a sort of contagious bliss…and it came from the tourists who were here for however long days, weeks or months…… The hotels and motels were full…Mack Groves was bustling with longtime devotees as well as newcomers who sat lined up in chairs happily and contently observing the sunshine, feeling the ocean breezes and smugly acknowledging each other in this shared experience… It was really something…it was heaven…

Now we no longer have Mack Groves, no chairs…no congregating of tourists and locals alike in acknowledging anything close to what we had back then… It’s not because we have development of 3 taller buildings that have gone up on El Mar Drive… It’s a loss of vitality in the commercial areas that bring about the current dismay…and the ongoing construction that mucks up the marvelous vistas for those that chose this town for their vacation destination…

I do disagree with my friend Commissioner Dodd and others who believe 33′ or 44′ with no equipment or pools on the roofs…It’s too constricting and it can be done to keep it aesthetically pleasing……I disagree with getting rid of all of the “Overlay Districts” forever…and quickly realized as I have written before that the Mc-Furth CIC “sweep” of repealing them right after the CIC win on the dais in 2008 was not thought out well, ( former CIC board member John Thompson tried and was defeated in warning us of the fallout ) …but a “knee-jerk” reaction that was orchestrated by the Mc-Furths who had their own “agenda” to stack the town boards with CIC pals and thwart any and all attempts to fix the demolition of “overlays” without realizing the consequences…

We need a “Hotel Hospitality District”…and we need business people like Mr. Novak to assure that tourism remains in our town…We need an “Entertainment Hospitality District” to ensure that business remains in this town…and that includes getting rid of the parking requirements as Mr Novak himself discussed at a MPSC meeting months ago…(prev. post)…

It strikes me as really funny that the Mc-Furth- Silverstone -Clottey contingency of the dais with their pal Manager Colon want to have a “Recreation” program for “our kids”, our “families” …but will do nothing for the “entertainment” of the larger new group of residents in this town, the younger ( not seniors) home buyers without kids who are looking to dine in town…and spend money…

Without the parking requirements…Mr Novak has assured us the storefronts would be filled with coffee shops, cafes, galleries and more…and I wholeheartedly believe him…

Last night we had dinner at the new Vietnamese restaurant in town, Basilic Vietnamese Grill on Commercial Blvd. (the old Tedesco location)…and by 7 pm it was full with patrons waiting outside..There would be no way they all parked by the restaurant…They came as we did, by foot…from home and from nearby parking lots…But it was not something they even mentioned…They came for the food…imagine that!.. That’s what I’m talking about…throughout the downtown…to the east and to the west of this new restaurant…We could be a destination for more scenes such as this…

We are headed into the most important juncture for this town 10 years since my arriving here…This 2010 election will lead to who decides who will sit on the Town boards and committees…and who will have the say of the 10 year Comprehensive Master Plan for what this town becomes… Despite disingenuous accolades made a few meetings back by Vice Mayor McIntee to Sandra Booth…(The VM disparaged Mrs Booth’s reappointment to the MPSC in 2008, joined by Comm. Silverstone…despite the FACT that Mrs Booth as past MPSC-Chair had brought so much to the town in that role… including the Art Institute students who provided the original Beach Pavilion ….Incredibly, Comm. Clottey and Town Manager Colon disparaged Mrs. Booth as well, when they prepared for the ribbon cutting of the Beach pavilion…both actions were “orchestrated” by the Furths)…If we maintain the “Broom Boys” majority up on the dais…we will see 2 more years of the same…

The MPSC in the last 2 years have been a waste of time, 2 giant steps back in progress for this town….It was canceled for lack of participation in conflicts of scheduling whether it was the CIC-VFD 4th of July or a CIC monthly meeting…( most members on the board are old-time Mc-Furth CIC pals) and as for direction from the dais to get a move on a new Master Plan in 2008-2009 …to get the old plans down off the “shelves” somewhere…forget about it.!..Despite Comm. Dodd’s many attempts to provide it, by going to the meetings or directing staff from the dais….the Mc-Furths and the Town Manager ignored and criticized…even calling Dodd out of order for “going there” and “directing”on his own!……They got what they wanted in the end… the MPSC did nothing… The Planning and Zoning which could have met throughout the past 2 years…not just when an applicant required a ruling… …has met less than a half a dozen times…At this month’s meeting they approved the minutes from the last time they met …last April!….

Is that what the voters want?…Nahhhh…..

We, the voters need to see that this really is the “Last Gasp” election for the small-minded selfish Mc-Furths…. It’s time now to get a healthy dose of new blood on the dais…who will provide from the new demographics in town new blood on the Town boards and committees as well …. It’s the only way to ensure that we find in 10 years time we again have a LBTS Tourist destination locale that makes us, the majority in town …. all realize the “Last Gasp” election in 2010….was just that …”The Last Gasp”…and we the voters…banded together to stop the demise of what brought us here in the first place…